I feel like writing tonight more than doing much of anything else. That's not to say that I won't do anything else, but for the moment, I'm going to just kind of go with the flow.
Teddy's been sick for the last week, so we took him to the doctor today. His fever's been off and on, which I didn't worry a whole lot about until a) it happened for a week and b) one of the teachers/mother of one of his classmates said that her son had the same symptoms and his doctor diagnosed it as flu. Our doctor was only able to say that it wasn't strep and probably was a flu-like virus. And that it looks like it's mostly run it's course. He's been fever free all day, so I'm planning to send him to PDO tomorrow. Which Mommy really needs.
Since I was over in that area, I stopped by Michaels while I was there. I'm trying, and failing desperately, to find a stamp or a stencil or something reusable and/or easy to find again (like stickers) with generic books/someone reading/a quote about reading. With all of the book swaps I've been doing lately, I think having something book related that I can use to jazz up envelopes or bookmarks or pages in journals would be a great thing. I just don't have any luck with it. If anyone has any directions that they can send me in my hopeless-feeling quest, I'll be forever grateful! I've tried Amazon and while they have some, but of the few selections they had, nothing jumped out at me.
I have found, however, that Michaels will be where I go for my journaling needs. I picked up a couple of really pretty 100 pages journals for $2 each. If I'm not in the mood to decorate a journal, I think these will be the ones I'll use. I may go back over one day next week and pick up a few of the 80 pagers that they had for $1 for some of the smaller swaps that I'm doing. I also picked up a new punch and a new stamp that looked kind of neat and useful in the $1 bin. When I can go sans kids (because going today with them was a nightmare on two sets of feet), I'm going to look through their punches a little more closely. The one I picked up today has a butterfly, but I glimpsed a few others that may have caught my fancy if I had more than 2 seconds to look at them. And I may check Big Lots again for some of the punches, because I know they've had some in the past for around $1 as well.
Another item that I'm having a heck of a time finding is stationary sets. I used to remember seeing them all the time when I was younger - I even had several of them. Now I'm finding a ton of notecard sets but no stationary and matching envelopes. And I'm not quite crafty enough yet to try making my own envelopes. Any of my readers that have suggestions on that, I'll be happy to hear from you as well.
I can also use some advice. My boys have been getting completely out of control when we've gone out to stores lately. Though, honestly, it's more Pete than Teddy. Teddy does have his meltdown moments, but more often than not, he's willing to help me. Pete, however, thinks that "Run away from Mommy and get into everything I can" is the most exciting game in the world and he has to play. I've tried putting him in the cart - he tries to climb back out. I've tried buckling him in, but have the carts have broken buckles any more. I've tried swatting his bottom. No luck. I can REALLY use any suggestions from anyone who has dealt with the same kind of thing. Because at this point, I'm getting to where I don't ever want to leave the house with them again except for PDO, doctor's appointments or to go to the park.
My toils with organization are still ongoing. I picked up the Organizher Family Organizer on clearance and I'm finding it incredibly useful. It has undated calendars with different sections for each member of the family, plus a section for lunch and dinner and daily notes, as well as a notes column on the side for the week. There are several meal planner sheets with grocery list space on the back, two large plastic zip-closed pockets, sheets for addresses and websites, a plastic business card holder and elastics over the back cover to keep things that you may need there. It's in a three ring binder, plus Mead (who makes the product) has downloadable content on their website so I can add pages when I need it. So far, it's been pretty useful this week.
I have a grand plan for organizing swaps. Actually, two grand plans. The first is the 3 shelf bookcase that I bought. At the moment, my crafting supplies are all over the dining room. There's no place that can hold all of it. So I'm going to use this bookcase for that purpose. I have a caddy organizer (smallish) that I can put scissors and other things I don't want Pete to get his hands on on top. For things like pens/stamping pens/etc, I think I'm going to get a pencil case to keep him from grabbing that. I'm hoping that I'll find new and inventive ways to use the space and still keep all my stuff relatively neat. The second is getting a small folder or binder that I can put active swaps in. I've found that when I've been out lately, I haven't been able to remember exact rules for certain swaps, or I don't have papers with me that I need, etc. I can fill the folder with sheet protectors, get a ringed pencil case to put pens and dry erase markers in and have space to work on the things that I want to work on. Not sure if it'll fit in my small backpack, but it's worth a try.
I've still desperately got to work on mu Plan. I'm finding more and more that I can easily make excuses or waste too much time on the computer, things like that. And in my effort to get better organized, I've got to stop doing it. I'm hoping that a schedule will help me with it so I can get done the things that I NEED to get done. I have such a hard time putting off fun until later. Not much of an adult, sometimes.
I'm guessing that my bookcase isn't getting built tonight. It was one of my possible plans, but I've been working on this quite a bit. Not that this is a bad thing. And maybe it's what I needed tonight more than building a bookcase. It'll probably be easier with Rich around anyway. I find it interesting the things that I write sometimes, what comes pouring forth from my brain, etc.
Maybe I should try working on a few of those book reviews at least. The numbers keep going up rather than down. Look for those shortly. And thanks for listening to my babble. Or reading my babble, which is slightly more appropriate. And please... I'm serious about getting advice and suggestions. I can't say that I'll take everyone's advice, but I will at least take a look at it.
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